Have Arsenal just sealed the deal for Porto’s Juan Quintero?

Porto’s Colombian forward Juan Quintero could be on his way to Arsenal (Picture: Getty Images)

Earlier in the week I wrote a piece about how Arsenal had been linked with a move for Porto’s 21-year-old Juan Quintero.

To be blunt, I trashed the rumour on the basis that it had come from CaughtOffside.

So, proving that I’m as far from ‘In The Know’ as you can get, a Colombian reporter and Fifa agent tweeted to claim that a deal has been agreed for a fee of £15m and that Quintero will arrive in London on Monday.

Quintero is an attacking midfielder, one who is perhaps being looked at with an eye to the future. Some immediately jumped to the conclusion that if he is coming in then it must surely mean the end of Santi Cazorla who has been continually linked with a move away this summer.

Thankfully, Santi has come out and denied all the rumours and has said he wants to stay and win trophies with Arsenal so that doesn’t seem to be a possibility, at least not this summer.

But perhaps Arsenal have an eye on next season. By brining in a player now they give him a chance to get acclimatised and used to the club and squad before he has to be thrown in to first-team action. It would remove a lot of the uncertainty regarding a player’s first season in a new country.

For those who missed them, Cazorla said: ‘My objective was always Arsenal. I have played for Arsenal for two years and I continue to play for Arsenal. They are the only club I think about.

‘I want to lift as many trophies as possible with Arsenal and help them as much as I can.

‘Winning the FA Cup took a lot of pressure from us. Winning a trophy after nine years relieves you, and leaves you to play with a bit more freedom. It is easier then to play even better than the year before. We would like to win trophies this year again.’

Regardless, at this point, most of this is just conjecture although it has certainly taken a very interesting twist. While there are many people on Twitter claiming allsorts, the tweet sent today by Maria Chavrro doesn’t appear to be from one of those many windup ‘agent’ accounts.

While one of Colombian’s most reliable journalists, Diego Rueda, also tweeted the above message (translated it says ‘it’s real possibility that Juan Fernando Quintero play with Arsenal. He would be coming to London on Monday. Wish is realise.’)